Wheat

Word about wheat: It's great for cleaning out the digestive system. If there is an emergency it's best to already be accustomed to eating wheat. So this is a grain that should be slowly introduced into the family diet. If you have wheat sensitivities (not celiac disease) try sprouting the wheat first. This may help. Baking/eating sprouted wheat also adds extra nutrients. Just google "How to sprout wheat". But basically it consists of soaking wheat overnight, the rinsing, and soaking for 2-3 days.

How to use wheat... other than in bread:

- Use whole wheat flour instead of white/all-purpose flour in baking. If you start small, like 1/4 C wheat flour in a batch of cookies, your family will never know. Wheat flour can be substituted for white flour on a 1:1 ratio.

- Soak wheat berries over night and then cook on the stove for about 20 min for a hearty hot breakfast cereal. Or, instead of soaking, throw the wheat (1 C wheat to 2 C water) in a crock pot and let it cook over night on low, and you'll have breakfast waiting for you.

-Add wheat berries to soup... our favorite is Chili.

If you don't have a grinder, put the wheat in a blender. It won't be flour consistency, but it does a pretty good job.

Blender Wheat Pancakes (Lowe family favorite)

1 Cup Milk (1/3 C dry milk + 1 Cup water)
1 Cup uncooked wheat berries
2 eggs
2 T oil
2 T honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Vanilla and cinnamon to taste (optional)

Put milk and wheat in a blender. Blend on highest setting for about 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and blend on low. Bake on hot griddle. Makes 6-9 pancakes.


Wheat Thins

1 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 C white flour
1/3 cup oil, emulsified in a blender with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1 C water

Mix dry ingredients. Ad oil-salt-water mixture. Knead as little as possible. Makes a smooth dough. Roll dough as thin as possible on ungreased cookie sheet (not more than 1/8 inch thick).

Mark with knife to size of creakers desired, but do not cut through. Prick each creaker a few times with a fork or toothpick. Sprinkle dough lightly with salt or other spices as desired. Bake at 350 until crisp and light brown (30-35 minutes).


Honey Whole Wheat Bread (the breadmaker way!!)

1 1/8 C water
3 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C honey
1 T powdered milk
1 1/2 T shortening
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine in order suggested by manufacturer. Select whole wheat setting and press start. *note* after experiementing with this recipe a bit, it works best for our bread machine to put it on the regular "white" setting with a light crust. The whole wheat setting made the bread too brown.